Creating seasonal packaging for your product is a great way to increase sales during the various festive seasons throughout the year.

People love to purchase products boxed in seasonal packaging for their friends, family, clients or colleagues and to get into the spirit of the season such as Christmas, Valentines Day & Easter.

Easter is just around the corner, and we have spotted some great packaging ideas on the retail shelves and online. You don't have to be a chocolatier to take advantage of the Easter season!

Nowadays, many people are looking for Easter gifts that are an alternative to the traditional chocolate gift giving, for many reasons....there is a market for your non-chocolate product during the Easter gift giving season.

Check out the soap maker in the photo gallery above who is making sales over Easter with her Easter themed soaps! Or the luxury drink manufacturer who has packaged their bottle in a bespoke egg shaped package. This is a perfect high end corporate gift idea. This drink manufacturer is taking advantage of the Easter season to increase sales by supplying the same product, but encased inside a beautiful, sleek looking Easter themed box.

Think about what you could do with your product or packaging to make it desirable to purchase over the Easter season.

Do you have a children's clothing store where you could package clothing in, in a unique Easter design themed box or even an Easter egg shaped box for sales in store or online? Do you have a candle business where you could sell candles in Easter themed packaging at a market stall in the weeks coming up to Easter?....

Use your imagination and think if there is any way that your product or service could incorporate the Easter message or get into the Easter spirit with it's packaging or even with a slight change to the product itself (like how the plant supplier in the above photo gallery did, by supplying a seed in an egg, and sold it in stores, in Easter themed packaging).

The newly designed packaging could pique curiosity of your brand if you (or your customers) share pictures of your Easter themed packaging on social media - especially if you have fun and unique packaging!

You can always continue to stock your retailer's shelves with your regular branded packaging, but having packaging related to the season is a great idea to boost sales too.

If you have a service business, you could also take advantage of the season to boost sales. You could take the opportunity to thank clients for their custom or try to attract new clients by sending them a corporate gift from your company in a cute, colourful, egg shaped rigid box (if that would suit your brand), or you could send a sleek invitation style box with 'Easter Greetings' or a message, embossed or foiled on the lid.

Whatever your brand image, you can find a way to ensure your Easter packaging for your product or service fits in with your overall marketing strategy and brand image, to attract the attention of your target market and increase sales over the Easter season.

*Please note, we do not specialise in supplying food packaging (but doesn't stop us from admiring it!)

Packaging is an integral part of your marketing mix and is like a mini-billboard for your brand. In the second that a potential customer scans a retail shelf in search for the product they want, and sees your packaging, it has to convey the message of your brand through colours, texture, font usage and quality. The packaging of your product also needs to reflect the quality of the product inside, it needs to communicate what the product is, attract the target market and it needs to ultimately seduce your customer into buying it!

If you don't get the packaging right, your target client wont even notice your product on the retail shelves, they wont reach for your product and look at it closer which means they wont purchase it.

Remember, your product is most likely to be placed on a retail shelf alongside similar products (including alongside your competition!). Think about how your packaging can stand out from your competitors and how it can attract your target market.

Research your competitionIn the research stage of your start up or re-brand, you should go to the stores where your product will be (or is) stocked. Check out the competition. What can you do with your packaging that will attract the customer to favour your product over others?

You need to have a clear understanding of where your product is placed in the market (in regards to price and quality) compared to other suppliers selling the same (or similar) product. Your product will most probably be placed along side direct competitors (products that are the same quality level, similar price and targeting the same audience), and indirect competitors - which are products in the same product category but are targeting a different audience.

If you are selling your product online through online gift stores, you will need to do the same research as if it was in a physical store - check out which products will be displayed on the same page as yours and think about how to draw the attention of your target customer to purchase your product over your direct competitor's product.

Who is your target market?Are you a luxury brand? Are you a brand targeting teenagers? are you targeting eco-concious men or women that only purchase high quality, organic products? You need to know exactly who your target market is and what you want your brand image to be.

You should compare yourself to your direct competitors. Check out who else is targeting your market. There will always be direct and indirect competitors, but you should mostly concentrate on your direct competitors. For example, a person that is interested in high quality eco products, will scan over the fluro pink sparkly cheap looking packaging on the shelf (the product that is directed to teenagers). Even if the product was the same on the inside, the fluro, sparkly packaging wouldn't seduce an eco-concious, quality seeking consumer into purchasing the product - as the packaging does not reflect their life aspirations, nor will it attract them. The eco-concious shopper will be looking for a product that is packaged in quality kraft paper packaging, that mentions the words eco or environment, and has earthy colour print.

Think about what colours, fonts and details would attract your target market and base your packaging design around that. Again, your brand guidelines and your brand image should have already been established at the launch of your brand. However if it's not working there is always the opportunity to re-brand via a relaunch of your product packaging.

If you supply luxury candles, but stock your retailers shelves with cheap, ugly packaging, your target market won't take the time to look at your beautiful, high quality candles inside the packaging. They won't know that your candles are luxury candles if the packaging doesn't portray luxury! If you have beautiful, attractive packaging, even those that are not looking to purchase a candle, might stop by the shelf and pick the product up, just to look at the beautiful packaging, which might lead them to purchase your product!

Pricing your product & why packaging mattersThe pricing of your product will also indicate its quality. If you have a high quality (luxury) product, you will need luxury product packaging. Quality, custom made bespoke packaging - made to your exact size, style and printing requirements, will be more expensive than an off-the-shelf box from a wholesale supplier, that you can only print up to 2 colours on, and may mean your product rattles around inside it, as it's not custom made to your exact product size requirements.

Remember, you can incorporate the cost of the bespoke product packaging into the overall sales price, as clients who purchase luxury products either do so for a friend, someone who they wish to impress such as a potential business partner or client, or as a gift to themselves. These clients want to purchase a beautiful, high quality product encased in beautiful, quality box and are willing to pay more for a product that is beautifully packaged. Sales could fall and you could lose your target market if you don't choose the correct packaging.

It's so important to make the right decisions when deciding on your package design, shape and quality - because it really does affect your sales.

Packaging is more than just a protective elementfor your product- it should attract your target marketFrom personal experience, with gift buying, if I see two or more similar products on the shelves, I will purchase the slightly more expensive product if the packaging looks more beautiful. I also know that people share beautiful packaging pictures on social media to their friends, clients or followers.

Packaging is important and powerful. With the wrong packaging quality, style and printing design, your brand image can be damaged, and you could attract the wrong audience and lose sales.

Author

Clara Cassidy, Founder and Marketing Manager of Custom Printed Bags & Boxes, is a marketing professional with years of experience in branding, promotions and events.Blogging about packaging, branding, marketing, advertising, bag & packaging design and more....

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"What was important to us, was to be treated like we treat our clients: Receive quality products and quality service before, during and after sale. It has been an absolute pleasure dealing with Custom Printed Bags & Boxes because they made sure we receive quality in service and product right to the end. They went above and beyond making sure the delivery was done in a timely manner and kept us informed along the way. Our boxes arrived in store last week and are an absolute hit!" Dana, Founder. Uggys Genuine